Matt Braun and Cody Schoenmann Revisit Their Pre-Season Awards Predictions

[Matt Braun]

Come see the good, the bad, the dreadful, and the one correct pick between the two. 

Image courtesy of © Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

American League Awards Predictions:

AL MVP (Winner - Aaron Judge)
Matt’s Choice: Julio Rodríguez
I tried to let my pattern-seeking brain work some magic with this pick. Rodríguez finished 7th in the MVP vote in his rookie year of 2022 and 4th in 2023. The evidence was overwhelming that 2024 was to be the Year of Julio. Praise be.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. He ended up with his worst year as a pro—still a 3.8 fWAR season, mildly disappointing only given his immense talent—and failed to garner even a sympathetic down-ballot vote. Whoops. On the other hand, Aaron Judge enjoyed one of the finest right-handed hitting seasons in baseball history. Whoops. I’ll go to the grave saying that picking the overall favorite to win the MVP is fascist and bad content, though, so I won’t lose sleep over this pick.

Cody’s Choice: Bobby Witt Jr.
I went against my radical homer tendencies, and look, it served me well! Generating 9.4 rWAR over 161 games played, Witt put together one of the more impressive regular-season campaigns in modern baseball history, leading him to finish second in AL MVP voting. In my assessment, he would have won the award if Big Yankee wasn't paying MLB award voters hundreds of thousands of dollars to push their “Pro-Judge” agenda.

In all seriousness, I have great disdain for both teams. That’s probably why I shortsightedly assumed the Royals wouldn’t seriously challenge the Twins in the AL Central standings this season. I was wrong there, too, and Witt was a significant reason why they overachieved. 

AL Cy Young (Winner - Tarik Skubal)
Matt’s Choice: Pablo López
Right division, wrong pitcher. Clearly, someone new was going to win this award in the AL, with the stalwarts in the league either incapacitated to start the season or moved elsewhere, but López was not the one to step up and fill the void. Instead, he underwhelmed and ran into home run problems in a fine but ultimately disappointing season.

Tarik Skubal, on the other hand, was magic. His talent—apparent and tantalizing before 2024—exploded and led to an AL triple crown, as he won 18 games, struck out 228 batters, and pitched to a 2.39 ERA. I’m not upset about whiffing on him, but I think I should have considered him more when I made my prediction. Oh well. So it goes.

Cody’s Choice: George Kirby
I was actually really high on Skubal before the season, and even argued that he might be the best starting pitcher in the AL Central. Many at Twins Daily (including Matt Braun) called me various obscenities, but I stuck to my guns, and look where it got me: absolutely nowhere. 

I thought this was the season Kirby was going to pop and, well, he didn’t. The 26-year-old Mariners hurler generated just 1.9 rWAR over 191 innings pitched. He was a serviceable arm for the mostly competitive M’s. However, he didn’t even sniff an AL Cy Young Award vote. (Somehow Yusei Kikuchi and Cade Smith did?!) 

AL Rookie of the Year (Winner - Luis Gil)
Matt’s Choice: Evan Carter
I think this was my worst selection of the article, and the reasons are so self-evident that they barely deserve a paragraph. Evan Carter was dreadful. His bat grew limp, his defense melted, and he never played after May; a back injury ended his season. His MLB career should be bountiful and extended, but his full rookie season was a disaster.

Now, Luis Gil as the winner? No shot that was ever on my radar. He entered 2024 with 33 ⅓ MLB innings and a penchant for such inefficiency that it seemed he may never start again. Then, just about the entire Yankee rotation hit the IL, and suddenly, Gil became a linchpin. Sometimes, it's almost impossible to predict this stuff.

Cody’s Choice: Wyatt Langford
I selected the other Rangers rookie outfielder, and despite Langford receiving only one second-place vote and four third-place votes, I am not ashamed of my selection. Like the Tyler Mahle trade, the process was sound, and I shouldn’t be ashamed of the results. Again, don’t look at the results, they are lying to you. 

Regardless, Langford didn’t get much love from voters despite posting 3.9 rWAR and a 111 OPS+ over 557 plate appearances. Like Matt, I didn’t even consider Gil for this award. I was under the assumption he wouldn’t get an extended look in the Yankees rotation this season, and if he did pitch, it would have been as a reliever. So, to copy Matt yet again, I will end my section with a Vonnegutism and say, “And so on.” 

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National League Awards Predictions:

NL MVP (Winner - Shohei Ohtani)
Matt’s Choice: Corbin Carroll
Before the season, it looked like the NL would be a little more open than the AL, just by virtue of the talent spread and because the big newcomer—Shohei Ohtani—would be a DH only, and no strict DH had ever won the award. So he simply had the greatest DH season ever. Sure. 

Corbin Carroll—whom I believed picking would make me look like a big smarty—had a relatively down year compared to his excellent rookie season. His hitting sagged as injuries messed with his swing. By June, his OPS still started with a “.5.” Then he just kind of got over it. He didn’t burn down the league or anything, but he finished with 4.0 fWAR, far from the ruinous season he appeared to be on track for. 

Cody’s Choice: Francisco Lindor
Lindor posted 6.9 rWAR and a 138 OPS+ over 152 games for David Stearns’s new-look Mets. His impressive 2024 campaign placed him second in NL MVP Voting. Wait, I selected another second-place finisher?! I was so close, yet so far.

You know, this reminds me, there’s an old saying in Tennessee–I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee–that says, ‘If you ain’t first….you ain’t first. If you ain’t first… you can’t get first again. If you ain’t first… you ain’t last.” My apologies, I forgot the saying. Nevertheless, I am proud of my Lindor selection, and if it weren’t for Big Dodger….

NL Cy Young (Winner - Chris Sale)
Matt’s Choice: Logan Webb
That Chris Sale rebounded to win his first career Cy Young—for real, he somehow never won one with the White Sox—wasn’t altogether surprising; his issue was health, not performance. Like Skubal, he claimed his league's triple crown, earning him the vast majority of first-place votes in a decisive win.

Logan Webb, my pick, finished 6th. His innings accumulation remained unrivaled—he topped 200 frames for the 2nd straight season—but his run prevention chops took a slide. His ERA crept up a few tenths, even as the scoring environment dipped. That’s not going to play.

Cody’s Choice: Bobby Miller
I, uh…. Okay, I fell victim to a quirked-up white boy with a 100-MPH fastball. It happens to the best of us. It really does. Miller ended the 2024 regular season with an 8.52 ERA, 6.97 FIP, and -1.9 rWAR over 56 innings pitched. Uhm, it should also be noted that he ended his 2024 campaign with the Oklahoma City Comets. As my father always told me, “You can’t win the NL Cy Young Award in Triple-A!”

Either way, this was a horrible pick that has tarnished my reputation, but at least Bobby got a World Series ring!

NL Rookie of the Year (Winner - Paul Skenes)
Matt’s Choice: Paul Skenes
A winner! I do know ball! Paul Skenes had a fabulous season, putting up ace reliever efficiency across 133 innings to best Jackson Merrill for the NL rookie crown.

Ok, maybe it wasn’t the hottest take to believe that a former 1st overall pick (and perhaps the best pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg) might be good at baseball. This was nothing like Gil; Skenes was the surest thing we’ve seen in quite some time. Still, his utter dominance went far beyond even the most optimistic prognosticator’s wildest dreams. This was a partial season for the ages.

Cody’s Choice: DL Hall
If MLB hadn’t gone Woke I could have made a tasteless joke about how DL’s nickname matched the name of the list he was always on during the 2024 season. But, again, MLB went Woke, and I am a better person than that! 

Still, Hall, like Miller, was a bad choice. The rookie southpaw posted a measly -0.2 rWAR over 43 innings pitched and never made much of an impact for the Brewers' depth-deficient 2024 rotation. Hall could still easily make an impact in the 414 long term, but 2024 wasn’t his year, and that’s okay. 

Congratulations to Matt for going out on a limb and voting for PAUL SKENES. He beat me by selecting one correct winner, meaning I will long be bitter and resentful toward him.

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[Blyleven2011]

I'm surprised nether of you picked Holliday for rookie of the year  ...

He was projected to be the front runner for rookie of the year in 2024 ...

[Vanimal46]

Pfft, y’all can’t tell the future?

[Pdxtwins]

Wow, my comment was deleted and the weird paragraph I commented on is still sitting there.  It's a tasteless joke without merit and I expect more from Twins Daily.

[h2oface]

1 correct  Actually not bad.

We traded the ROY away for Jake Cave. Another great move  

Lopez. What a disappointment. 

[old nurse]

 If it woke to not want people making fun of someone being injured I guess I am agreement with the woke people.